Many physical stores aren’t seeing as much foot traffic as consumers are turning to online shopping for their purchases. Retailers that have embraced technology and have a strong online presence has not only out maneuvered this change but have seen a rise in sales. Incorporating artificially intelligent targeted marketing, contactless delivery, quick checkout capabilities, and other technology-driven tools have put many businesses above their competitors. But to make these data-heavy applications work, the technology and resources that power these tools are also essential. A dedicated server to power these tools and applications is necessary. This article breaks down why a dedicated server solution may be right for your business.

What Is a Dedicated Server?

A dedicated server is a physical computer with RAM and CPU that runs on an operating system of the consumer’s choosing. A dedicated server is fundamentally the same machine as your home computer, but various upgrades give it the much-needed power for enterprise organizations. A dedicated server is also a server that is used by a single company, as opposed to the server being shared by several different organizations. It can be leased or owned by the company and can be configured and used in any way the company chooses.

Medium to large companies that need the best performance and the most power will typically require a dedicated server for all their data-intensive applications. This is because these companies need to have all of the resources available to them when needed. Sharing resources with dozens or even hundreds of companies can put a strain on resources, which isn’t possible for certain large businesses. Having all the available processing power is essential for some companies.

How Can Retail Businesses Benefit from a Dedicated Server?

There are some specific benefits that a dedicated server can offer for retail businesses. This includes power, reliability, security, flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and capabilities. A retail business that can properly harness these benefits could potentially see major growth in their business.

The first benefit that that retail business can harness from a dedicated server is power. When a retail business has a more powerful system, it’s able to handle all inquiries and complete tasks. As mentioned earlier, many retail businesses have seen tremendous growth in online sales as e-commerce continues to grow. Power equals speed, and when customers have to wait more than 3 seconds, there is a significant increase in the website’s bounce rate. It’s essential for businesses to have fast website speeds. Additionally, if you’re a retail business that wants to incorporate artificial intelligence-based tools to help with sales, a dedicated server is even more essential.

The second benefit that a retail business can harness from a dedicated server is reliability. When companies are in complete control of the server’s resources and environment, there is less worry if their systems and applications will run as intended. The company can then build systems that are focused on maximizing overall efficiency. It’s also less likely for a downtime caused by errors from the other tenants.

The next benefit of a dedicated server is security. 100% control over the server also means that you control the security as well. Organizations can implement the security system that works best for their business. Partnering with a data center provider with compliance regulations that work best for your business will also be beneficial. Colocation America has the best security available with all the data center certifications a company can want including HIPAA, PCS DSS, SSAE, SOC, and ISO 27001.

The fourth benefit that a dedicated server can offer for retail businesses is flexibility. Some cloud providers offer more affordable one-size-fits-all solutions, but these solutions rarely are a perfect fit for retail businesses. A dedicated server solution allows your company to run the operating system of your choice and request more of the specification you need and less of what you don’t. A dedicated server puts retail businesses in the driver’s seat.

The next benefit is capability. Dedicated servers can do all of the things that a cloud can do—because the cloud is essentially a server anyway. Managing an organization’s network and infrastructure will vary from company to company. A dedicated server can allow retail businesses to increase their system’s capabilities. It can do everything that a cloud can do, but with more power and speed while catering to the company’s specific needs.

While there are great more cost-efficient options like colocation, for larger companies, a dedicated server could potentially be as cost-effective as other cloud options. One of the main differences that can differ is the set-up investment.

How Can Colocation Benefit Retail Businesses?

A small to medium-sized company may not need a dedicated server for its needs. Using a colocation service can be more cost-efficient than using a cloud-based service. It can save the money needed for power management, security management, physical space, and the salary for staff needed to run an in-house data center. While still offering high-end connectivity, power, scalability, low latency, high bandwidth, and skilled staff to help manage your ecosystem.

Whether you are a large company needing the most power and speed or a small company wanting to get started in harnessing the power of a data center, Colocation America can help get you connected. We have 22 of the best data centers nationwide in all of the various telecommunication hubs in the United States including Los Angeles and New York. We offer redundant power and cooling, up-to-date security and compliance, IT support, and everything you need in terms of connectivity. Colocation America has dedicated servers and colocation to help grow your retail business. Connect with us for more questions about how we can help take your business to the next level.   

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This realization gave birth to the Raspberry Pi Foundation by the University of Cambridge, which intended to create low-cost programmable computers for about the cost of a textbook. The idea was to give as many children a more hands-on experience of actual computer programmable computer hardware. Today, Raspberry Pi, the low-cost programmable tool, can do more than simply be a training tool for kids.

What Is a Raspberry Pi? 

The Raspberry Pi is a low-cost computer programming training tool that is about the size of a credit card. The Raspberry Pi resembles a traditional motherboard with exposed parts and mounted computer chips. The Raspberry Pi comes in two different versions, Model A and Model B. Model B will cost a little more but has an added Ethernet and additional USB port. Both come with everything users need to connect any inputs and outputs for most devices. Raspberry Pi can be used to program in languages such as Python and Scratch. As it comes, it can also be programmed, configured, and used as a desktop computer. Users can do everything from word-processing, browse the internet, make spreadsheets, play games, and even play high-definition games.

Raspberry Pi can be configured for many different applications. The device is similar to the first home computers. It doesn’t come with internal storage or peripherals, but users can take this base and build just about anything from the ground up. Connecting the Raspberry Pi to a monitor, keyboard, SD card, and power supply would be the beginning of a personal computer. But users have realized that with this affordable computer programming tool—the possibilities are endless. Users can host a website and even an entire server with a Raspberry Pi. 

How to Host a Personal Web Server with a Raspberry Pi?

A web server for personal use is just about the same thing as “the cloud” except users/operators control and maybe even more importantly, own all aspects of this personal cloud instead of one giant company like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, IBM, Apple, and more. There are many several different benefits of owning your web server.  These benefits include free storage, unlimited customization, free Internet services, high-quality security, complete control over your content, and more. Hosting your own personal web server can also potentially save users over $100 a month.

The first step to building and hosting a personal web server with a Raspberry Pi is to gather the proper equipment and setting up the groundwork before the initial configuration.  There are several things you will need to build and host your web server with a Raspberry Pi including a Raspberry Pi Model B, an SD memory card, a power adapter compatible with the MicroB connecter found on the Raspberry Pi, an ethernet patch cable, HDMI compatible, HDMI cable, and a USB keyboard. You will also need a USB micro SD card reader, ethernet cable, HDMI monitor, and router.

A Raspberry Pi needs to boot off an SD card loaded with an operating system disk image. SD cards may be purchased bland or already made bootable and complete with a Raspberry Pi operating system. There are several operating system versions for Raspberry Pi. This particular example uses Raspbian Wheezy.

Step 1

First, download the operating system disk image and write it onto your memory card. You can write the image using something like a Win32 Disk Imager. After the image is written onto the card, plug the memory card in the Raspberry Pi SD card reader. Once you have all the input and output devices (monitor, ethernet cable, keyboard, etc.)  plugged in you can power on the device.

Step 2

The next step is the initial configuration. Once you have powered on the Raspberry Pi with the SD card plugged in, your monitor will read all of the operating system information and peripherals. Once the boot is complete there are changes you will need to make. First, expand the root partition so all the space is available for use on the SD card. The next step is to set the time zone, enable SSH server in the advanced options, and disable boot to desktop. Update the Raspberry Pi and reboot the system.

Step 3

After these settings have been configured you will set up the SSH. After the device reboots, it will ask for your login information. The default username is “pi” and the default password is “raspberry”. Next, find the IP address by using the command: ifconfig. Use this IP address as the Host Name and re-enter the default login information. Once you are logged in—change the password to your preference.

Step 4

The fourth step is to install Apache.

Use the command: sudo apt-get install apache2 php5 libapache2-mod-php5

Follow the commands and restart your device. After the device reboots, go to your web browser of choice and type in the device’s IP address into the URL bar. After these steps, Apache should be installed.

Step 5

The next step is to install MySQL.

Use the command: sudo apt-get install mysql-server mysql-client php5-mysql

Type in Y (for yes) to continue the installation process. After the installation, it will ask you to enter a new password for MySQL root user. Type in your preferred password and complete the installation process.

Step 6

The sixth step is to install FTP. This allows you to transfer files to and from your device.

First, to take ownership of web root: Use the command: sudo chown -R pi /var/www

Next, install vsftpd. Use the command: sudo apt-get install vsftpd

After this is completed. You can start the configuration process. Edit the vsftpd.config file by using the command: sudo nano /etc/vsftpd.conf

Find and edit the lines below:

“anonymous_enable=YES” change this to “anonymous_enable=NO,”

Uncomment local_enable=YES

Uncomment write_enable=YES

Do this by removing the “#” in front of both lines. Now exit the editing page by pressing ctrl+X. And type Y (Yes) to confirm. Now, restart the FTP service.

Use the command: sudo service vsftpd restart

Step 7

The last step is to finalize all of your work. To do this, change the root password of your Raspberry Pi. Use the command: sudo password root

Next, add the user root as a mod. Use the command: sudo usermod -L root

Once this is complete, your Raspberry Pi is now set up as a personal server from which you can transfer files to and from by using your IP address.

Conclusion

What once started as an educational tool can be used for additional uses that can be beneficial for its users. The Raspberry Pi device can be used for several different things such as a wireless speaker, home automation system, retro gaming console, and more. If you’re looking to own your cloud system, it can even be used as a personal web server as shown above. This little device is the foundation of a lot of the technology that we are using today. It can be used as a training aid for young (and old) technology students, and it can be used for more practical uses as well.  

The post How to Host an Entire Server on a Raspberry Pi appeared first on Colocation America.

Also, yet many new website owners struggle with this decision. They don’t know what to look for. 

After all:

You can’t be 100% sure about a hosting provider until you try out their services yourself.

Some website owners tend to get dazzled by all the promises some providers initially make. They might even choose the easy way and go with the cheapest hosting option.

Unfortunately:

Not all providers fulfill their promises once you sign up for their services. There are a lot of unscrupulous people out there, and it pays off to research hosting before you make a decision.

That’s why we’ll explain exactly what you can expect to get with a quality hosting provider that others might not have. These are the things your choice of hosting effects:

Make Sure You Have Proper Support

Reliable customer support is one of the essential qualities of a hosting provider. We can’t stress this enough, yet it’s often overlooked.

The fact of the matter is:  

You’re going to encounter a problem at some point. Something might not work correctly, or your entire website might go down. In such cases, you’ll want a fast, professional, well-staffed support team.

A good support team will fix your problems as soon as possible. Server monitoring and frequent malware sweeps might even fix an issue before you know it’s there.

In contrast:

If a provider doesn’t provide excellent support, you might wait for days to get a reply to even a simple query.

In a pinch, an excellent support team will save your website and your reputation.

Your Hosting Provider Should Have Excellent Uptime

Downtime means the server is temporarily not running, so nobody can access your website.

Here’s the thing:

Downtime can be a significant problem. Do you remember when Instagram went down? It instantly made all the headlines.

Now:

Your website going down might not cause as much of outrage, but your visitors won’t be any less upset.

There can be many reasons for server downtime. It can be caused by a power outage, hardware issues, or just scheduled maintenance.

Whatever the reason, it’s nigh-impossible for a provider to ensure 100% uptime. What’s more, it’s almost as difficult for you to get reimbursed if the server is down for too long.

That being said:

Quality hosting providers have measures in place that make sure downtime is minimized. All you have to do is review the provider’s server downtime in the previous months. That will ensure you get the maximum amount of uptime possible.

Make Sure Your Hosting Provider Has Proper Security

Another critical factor, strong security ensures your website stays in your control. You don’t want to lose your hard work to somebody else, after all.

While there’s a lot you can do to bolster website security, the server must be secure, to begin with. Your hosting provider must do their part in providing protection.

Here’s how:

Security sweeps and a secure firewall should be standard practices. A good host also provides frequent automated backups, and the support team is quick to fix the problem in case of a security breach.

The latter part is especially vital with shared hosting. One client having their data compromised can put the entire server at risk.

You must also review security before picking a hosting provider. Don’t be afraid to contact their team and discuss what kind of security measures they have in place.

Website Speed

The speed at which you deliver content to your visitors is one of the most significant predictors of website success. Users love fast websites. Likewise, they hate slow ones.

Here are a few stats showcasing how long load times put off users:

If average page load time goes from one second to five, users are 90% more likely to abandon a site after viewing only one page

Each second of added delay reduces total page views by 11%

 Each second of delay directly correlates to a 7% decrease in conversions

In essence, if your website is slow, users become reluctant to interact with it and, if you’re selling a product, to purchase anything.

That’s why experts recommend keeping your load times under three seconds. This ensures you avoid any adverse effects of slow page loading.

However, most website owners fail to do this.

Admittedly:

Website speed mostly depends on how well you optimize your website. However, if the hosting service is poor, it becomes difficult to get your load times under that three-second mark. That’s why you should also take speed into account when choosing a host.

Conclusion

Those are the most critical ways in which your choice of hosting influences your website. That’s why we encourage you to research all hosting options as thoroughly as possible before starting a website or migrating to a new host. It will make all the difference in the world.

The post How Your Web Hosting Service Affects Your Website appeared first on Colocation America.

Dedicated Server Hosting

Let us take the analogy of a house with four bedrooms. You are the only person living in the house and can do whatever you want with it. All the amenities of the house are reserved for you. This scenario is the same as availing a dedicated server.
A dedicated server is referred to a physical server, the resources of which are utilized by a single tenant. Let us assume that you avail a dedicated server with the hosting provider for your website.
The resources of the server such as RAM, storage, graphics card, processor, etc. is used only for your website. You can customize the server as per your requirement and choose the operating system or the software you want to install in it.
There are various advantages of availing dedicated server hosting. Firstly, as you are the only tenant and the resources are dedicated solely for your purpose, no other process can hamper your productivity.
Imagine a physical server with two websites A & B hosted on it. As website A draws data traffic at peak hours, it utilizes more processing as well as storage resources. The overutilization of resources from website A can cause website B to crash to underperform as it is not able to get even the minimum amount of resources to function.
Secondly, there is a security concern. Although the hosting providers deploy all the critical security safeguards in the data center as well as their services to keep your data safe, it is always wise to take precautions yourself.
The dedicated server hosting enables you to host your application and data on the server without any interference from other tenants. Hence, any cyber attack on other application or website cannot hamper the performance of your application or integrity of your data.
However, dedicated server hosting can prove to be more expensive than other types of hosting because of the obvious benefits. Hence, while choosing dedicated server hosting, you should evaluate your process and make sure if you need dedicated resources and enhanced security for your process.

Shared Server Hosting

Again, consider a house with four bedrooms and four tenants. The four bedrooms are shared by the four people, but one person can use any number of bedrooms as per his requirement leaving the other three with no place to live.
Shared hosting, as the name suggests, is the hosting of multiple tenants on a single server. The resources of the server are shared among the tenants. However, there is no restriction on the type of application or data you can host on a shared server. A shared server can host a website, application, and software on the same server.
Shared hosting is preferred for small-scale applications as they cannot fully utilize the server resources. Imagine you have a server with 8 GB RAM and 512 GB storage with eight applications hosted on it. The resource will be distributed among these applications with no special preference given to anyone. It means that an application can utilize more than 2 GB of RAM if other applications are not using their resources. One application also tends to utilize more RAM when unexpected traffic is incident on it. This can hamper the performance of other applications.
Another aspect of shared hosting is that as the application develops, it is in need of more resources. The application then must be migrated to another server as the shared server cannot provide more resources. The migration of the application data is a tedious task in itself.
The application that does not experience high traffic and deals with huge amounts of data like some static websites can opt for shared hosting.

Virtual Private Server Hosting

Getting back to the house analogy, you have a house with four bedrooms and four people living in it. But, this time, each person gets one bedroom each. The person cannot enter the other bedrooms and cannot house anyone in them. Hence, each person gets an equal living space.
Virtual Private Server or VPS hosting is the same as shared server hosting apart from a significant difference. By the implementation of virtualization technology on the physical server, a single server is divided into multiple private servers.
We again consider a server with 8 GB RAM and 512 GB storage. Let us assume that eight applications are hosted on it. Contrary to shared server hosting, the physical server is divided into eight virtual servers with each allotted same resources, that is, 1 GB RAM and 64 GB of storage.
The main advantage of VPS hosting is that other applications cannot impact the performance of your application. Although they share the same server, each tenant gets a dedicated server to perform the desired functions. However, the resources are still limited, and the resource requirement can be met only by hardware replacement or decreasing the number of tenants.
The VPS hosting can be used by small and medium-sized applications with a low budget and security concerns as it is cheaper than dedicated server hosting and more secure than shared hosting.

Colocation Hosting

Colocation hosting is the hosting when the customer avails the data center facility of a provider to host his/her physical server. In this case, the hardware belongs to the customer. Only the infrastructure of the data center and the services of the hosting provider is availed by the customer.
Most users opt for colocation hosting as they possess the hardware but do not have the infrastructure to host them. The data centers, however, provide state-of-the-art infrastructure for the hardware. These include redundant cooling, power, and network equipment, multiple firewalls, among others.   
The services offered by the hosting provider may differ with each provider. Some of the features include management of servers, hardware replacement, cable installation, etc.
Depending on the hardware, you can opt for 1U, 2U, 4U, 10U, 21U, or even 42U rack space. The data centers in which your server is hosted can be classified into various tiers depending on the quality of the infrastructure.
You can opt for colocation hosting if you possess the hardware but need a hosting provider with advanced data center and services.

Cloud Hosting

Last but certainly not the least, the hosting providers offer cloud environment to host your applications. Cloud has announced itself on the hosting landscape, and it is here to stay.
So, what is a cloud?
Cloud computing refers to a cluster of servers working synchronously to perform complex functions. Like any other type of hosting, the cloud servers are situated in data centers. However, these servers are interconnected with each other.
With the help of virtualization, every Virtual Machine (VM) created on the physical servers act as an independent server. The VMs can be moved from one server to another. Hence, if one server crashes, your application and data are still secure. This makes your application completely hardware-independent.
Moreover, your application on the cloud can be scaled instantly. As the cloud comprises a group of servers, if your application needs extra resources, the resources can be provided easily.
Due to its flexible nature, the cloud providers charge you as per your resource usage. There are numerous cloud service providers available in the market. You must choose the cloud provider that offers a secure and flexible environment for your process.

To Sum it Up!

There are various methods of hosting available for you to host your application. You need to choose the hosting that is cost-efficient, secure, and by your application.
On the one hand, a dedicated server offers you with dedicated access to resources but is also expensive than other types of hosting. Whereas, on the other hand, shared hosting offers a cheap option, but you have to share your resources with others. VPS hosting is a combination of both, where you get dedicated resources, but on the shared server.
Colocation enables you to host your physical server in the data centers of the hosting provider. You get all the benefits of the data center infrastructure for your server.
Cloud hosting is another hosting option that offers you with a secure and flexible option to host your data.

The post Various Types of Hosting to Optimize Your Business appeared first on Colocation America.

In the end, there are some features that are non-negotiable.Today we’ll take a look at the five additional features you absolutely must have from your hosting provider and why you need them. If you see these five things, then you’re on the right path.

5 Features Everyone Needs From Their Hosting Service

These hosting features are non-negotiable in the sense that they should be sought after above all else when considering a hosting service. It’s time to find out why you need these five features for every blog you create:

1. Multiple Domains Supported

The cost of a domain is relatively inexpensive, which means that you’ll most likely own more than one during your time as a webmaster. As part of your hosting plan, it would be most convenient if you could have multiple domains without the need to purchase a separate plan for each one.

Most hosting providers will have the option for addon domains, which are different websites on the same plan. Look for this term when browsing and see how many additional sites your plan can support.

This feature ensures that any new domains you add will have their own web address, as opposed to a combination of the new one and the old one, which is the case when using many free blogging platforms. Take a look at this example:

• Sub Domain: www.newwebsite.oldwebsite.com
• Addon Domain: www.newwebsite.com

As you can see, one looks far more professional than the other, so be sure to look for this feature.

2. Unlimited Email Accounts

For businesses, an email with your domain is extremely important. Consumers don’t want to get an email from someone claiming to be associated with the business that ends with @gmail.com or @yahoo.com. Instead your business email should end with @yourdomain.com.

If you have multiple domains, you’ll want support for as many email accounts as you’ll need. Furthermore, you should also look into creating an email forwarder that sends business emails to your personal address.

Otherwise, you’ll have to check the webmail app in your control panel, and you may forget to do this from time-to-time which could result in important emails not getting answered. By using a forwarder, you can also reply to these emails in your personal account and ensure that the receiving user sees an email address associated with your business.

3. An Uptime Guarantee

There are plenty of things that can hurt a website, but a total loss of service (known as downtime) can be killer. Considering the fact that a one second delay in page loading can cost you up to 7% in conversions, a non-functioning website can cost you countless dollars in lost sales and traffic.

Many hosting services will offer an “Uptime Guarantee” and provide a percentage of time they promise your website will be running and accessible. Never settle for any less than 99% in this regard.

Furthermore, if this guarantee is breached and your website does go down, many hosting providers will have elements of their TOS (Terms of Service) that provide you with some sort of compensation for any length of time your website is down.

4. Control Panel (cPanel) Support

Just about anything you do on your website is controlled by either your control panel or your CMS platform (WordPress being an example).

The control panel on your website controls several major elements of your server and your hosting service:

• Website Status (and the ability to add new domains)
• Bandwidth and Storage details
• Email account creation
• Managing FTP accounts and databases
• File management
• Plenty more

The control panel I always recommend is cPanel which you’ll see on many of the top hosting company’s websites. This type of control panel is easy to use for beginners, and offers plenty of control for advanced webmasters.

5. Technical/Customer Support

If you consider yourself a beginner, or even if you have some experience with web hosting and website management, you’re going to need help eventually. Case and point: you should have access to customer service and technical support as part of your hosting subscription.

When you’re browsing various web hosting companies, you’ll find that they offer different levels of this service. In particular, look for these options:

• Email support
• Live chat
• Telephone service

Sometimes these will be restricted by business hours, but the best options will indeed over 24-hour support. Before deciding, you should also look at customer reviews to see how quickly they address issues and how satisfied customers were with their help.

Bonus: Features You Don’t Need (But You’ll Probably Want)

Those are the big features that your hosting provider should have present, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop there. Plenty of hosting companies will offer additional features that can only help your website’s success.

Look for these potential options when narrowing down your options:

• 1-click installations for popular CMS platforms (WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, etc.)
• Content Delivery Network (optimizes for speed based on a user’s location)
• Credit for popular advertising networks like Google Adwords
• Free and consistent website backups
• A free domain for the first year
• WordPress optimization services
• Access to online databases for off-hours support
• Options to upgrade during a contract
• Cloud hosting options

Again, these features aren’t required for a host to be high-quality, but they do represent some great indicators that you’re trusting your website with a reputable and capable company. I personally recommend that you look at the top sites and break them down into their pros and cons by looking at reviews.

Final Thoughts

WordPress hosting is one of the easiest and most efficient ways to get a website up and running. When choosing your preferred hosting platform, be sure to do your research and make sure these features are present before you sign up.

What do you look for in a hosting company? Let us know in the comments!

The post 5 Features You Need from Your Hosting Provider appeared first on Colocation America.

There’s been some scuttlebut recently about transfer protocols that we thought we’d write up a little something to help internet users and website builders alike. In this blog, we’re going to discuss what FTP is, how it works, how it can help you, and the main difference between it and other transfer protocols like HTTP.

Let’s go!

What Does FTP Stand For?

FTP stands for File Transfter Protocol. And what it does is transfer files between computers. A fun fact about FTP is that it can be either a noun or a verb. As a noun, it stands for the program that sends files and as a method for sending the files. As a verb it would be as a means to send or receive (fetch) files.

So, basically, it’s just a means for sending files, securely, from one machine (typically a server) to another. FTP is mainly used for the transfer of large files.

How Does FTP Work?

If you are looking to build a website, you will have to learn how to use FTP. FTP or file transfer protocol, is basically a client that allows you to transfer files from one location to another.

In a website context, you’ll be using FTP to transfer files on your computer to files on the server that your site is being hosted on. FTP clients have many options, but the following are five things you need to know to get started.

FTP Account

The first step of using your FTP client is setting up an account. In order to make an FTP client work with your hosting, you’ll have to login to your hosting account. Find the link in the hosting control panel where you can control the FTP options, and create a username and password. Make sure that you write down the hosting server address. We’ll talk about some FTP programs a little bit below, so please be aware that this is typically the path to follow, but some programs may be different. If you want to start now, give Filezilla a try!

Adding Sites to Your FTP Client

Once you’ve set up the information on your hosting control panel, you can start adding your site or sites to your FTP client. Go to the site manager and create a site profile. You’ll have to put in your username, password and hosting server address to complete the profile. Now your FTP client will be connected to your hosting account. Just make sure you click connect. Make sure your password is strong. If it’s easily guessable, all your information is up for grabs. This is how your website will be generated, if that’s what the purpose of your FTP is. All your CSS and other things can be hosted on your FTP client to be accessible from anywhere, i.e. so that you can host your website independently from where your local FTP files are.

Changing File or Directory Permissions and Attributes

Permissions and attributes are important for security measures as well as installing scripts. You can make changes by right clicking a file or folder and clicking properties. A window box will open up showing you the directory value, which is shown as 3 numeric numbers (usually 755). It will also show you read, write and executable options. The default settings are usually set up so that users cannot edit the file or folders.

Making Edits to Files

If you are working with an HTML or PHP file, you’ll frequently find yourself making edits to the code. Rather than editing on your desktop and rewriting the previous file, you can actually edit the file on the server. All you have to do is make sure that the admin has read and write privileges, and click edit to make the changes.

Creating New Folders and Batching File Downloads/Uploads

To create a new folder, all you have to do is to click the “add new folder” option in your client and name it. You can also download and upload multiple files at a time rather than doing one file at a time. Simply hold shift and click on the files you want to move. This will highlight the files. Then, transfer the files where you want them to go or drag and drop the highlighted files if the FTP client allows that option.

Let’s take a break and give a little metaphor here. FTP accesses your website differently than an internet user would. That makes sense because your website would have different entrances, just like a department store. While the customers come in from the front entrance, the FTP would knock on the shipping bay doors and be let in through the back (where customer aren’t allowed).

Batching allows you to do something else while you wait for files to be downloaded or uploaded. However, trying to move a whole folder can create problems with many FTP clients. When you want to transfer a whole folder, it’s a good idea to create a separate folder name and transfer all the individual files into that folder name. This will reduce download/upload time, reduce crashes, and make it easier to continue where you left off if something happens.

What Is an FTP Program?

An FTP program is the organizer of what data wants to be transmitted through FTP. The most popular FTP hosting software would be Filezilla which has useful features such as search and keeps everything well organized. The security of your ftp host software is important as well. Most popular software will be quite secure, Filezilla being no exception.

On an FTP program, users upload the data that they want to access from anywhere and secure it with a password. They can use that password to access and download the files from just about any machine.

What’s the Difference between FTP and HTTP?

While they are basically unrelated, FTP and HTTP do similar things.

HTTPis designed and intended for web browsers. It allows resources to get pulled from a website and displayed onto your screen, and it allows for data to be inputted onto the website itself.

Both you, the client, and the server, the website, transfer data back and forth (cookies). Now, when you’re interacting with a website and you want to download something, the website gathers that data from an FTP server and connects you, through HTTP, to that server to download it.

HTTP, is just another way data is transferred across machines, but FTP is still required to download large files. HTTP just can’t do it. That’s why websites keep themselves light to ensure faster browsing speeds.

Hopefully now you know a little bit more about FTP systems and how they interact with users around the internet. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us and we’d love to help you! Comment below!

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Introduction to SEO Web Hosting

There isn’t an exact definition for SEO web hosting; rather this term commonly refers to web hosts that are also SEO-friendly. While such hosting providers don’t per se offer anything to boost a site’s SEO, they don’t offer anything that could hinder a site’s SEO efforts either i.e. they don’t subscribe to practices which can hinder SEO.

Effect of Web Hosting on SEO

The choice of the web hosting service provider influences some of the rules relating to SEO, which is how web hosting can contribute positively or negatively to SEO. A few are as given below:

• Website speeds

Site-loading speeds are well-known SEO factors under op-page SEO techniques. Your web pages should load as fast as possible to provide better user experience leading to reduction in bounce rates and increase in conversion rates. Two things are necessary to have fast-loading website:

• A web host with sufficient resources, including fast hardware and good data center infrastructure
• Properly coded website with optimized images, text and code

You can easily control the second, but the first depends on the kind of provider you choose as a web host. If the provider’s hardware is not optimal for your performance, you have little recourse but to migrate to a different provider.

• Site availability

Site availability also directly affects rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs). Google does not like offering its users websites that they don’t deem as being available. It temporarily de-indexes these sites until they resolve the availability issues.

It is the responsibility of the web hosting service provider to ensure that a site stays available; time spent being down can severely injure your online reputation. In the worst case, you may not be using any website monitoring tools and don’t even know that your website is down, while you continue to lose traffic and revenue.

• Site security

You can make personal effort to ensure high security of your website, but unless the web hosting service provider does the same, this still leaves you and your customers vulnerable. This means that Google is unlikely to send lots of traffic your ways, especially if you have an e-commerce site where users will need to share sensitive information.

If you have had the experience of having your website hacked into then you know the ramifications of such an event. In the absence of security from your web hosting service provider, you can get an infection from malware. If such issues are not speedily resolve, this could see your site de-indexed and the domain permanently blacklisted by search engines.

• SEO awareness

You should have a web hosting service provider who is familiar with SEO tips and their importance to websites they host. Otherwise, they might take actions that would injure your business without your knowledge, or even theirs.

For instance, a hosting provider could restrict the access of Google bots from the robots.txt file thinking they are protecting your site from some malware. This clearly shows an SEO-unfriendly provider who should not be offering any web hosting service in the first place.

Some web hosting service providers can also shut down websites because they have lots of traffic and hence are using up a lot of their resources. Others can ask webmasters to get rid of plugins such as Live Chat since their current infrastructure cannot support the added load, even though webmasters had an assurance of unlimited resources at the outset.

Who Is a Good Web Host?

At the end of the day, while the web hosting service provider may not directly contribute to improving your sites SEO, it should not do anything to hurt it either nor to damage your online reputation. Any inefficiency on the provider’s part should not have negative ramifications for you. The provider should not take any drastic moves without obtaining your express permission.

If you have been a web designer/SEO professional for a while, you may have tried many different packages for your different clients and know what to look out for. There are more good service providers than bad ones since web hosting is a highly competitive market. This means that you can get better services at reduced cost – good news for your clients.

Consider the length of time the provider has been in business, reviews from previous and current clients, online reputation, the nature of their data center and hardware/infrastructure. Weigh these against your website’s needs since that is what determines the exact web hosting package you will select.

Author bio

Michael Bentos is an experienced digital marketer and part of the team at ParadoxSEO.com – the powerful platform that makes SEO simple. He likes to provide SEO tips through his articles to make businesses excel in the online representation.

The post Does Your Choice of a Web Hosting Service Affect SEO? appeared first on Colocation America.

Choosing the right colocation partner can be a difficult process for any business. Once a colocation provider is chosen, the cost and hassle of changing providers is often prohibitive enough to dissuade businesses from switching to a different service. This makes it essential to select the right provider the first time, which usually requires some extensive research. Making sure that a company’s data is secure and accessible at all times is essential in allowing a business to run successfully. With this in mind, there are a number of things that business owners need to take into consideration when they are selecting a data center to house their servers.

Price

Renting space in a data center can be expensive, and this is particularly true if businesses need to collocate a large number of servers. In addition, things can get even more expensive if companies need things like managed firewalls that data center staff will need to maintain.
Fortunately for businesses in the market for colocation, the number of data centers has increased significantly in recent years. With a little shopping around, businesses should be able to find a quality data center that will house their servers at a reasonable cost.

Adaptability

With current technological developments set to impact the future of data centers, businesses need to be sure the colocation partner they choose is prepared for new security challenges presented by improvements in device technology. Additionally, an ideal partner will be prepared to handle an exponential increase in the amount of both personal and big data to be managed and secured. A business owner or representative should ask potential colocation providers how they plan to handle an increase influx of data, from both a storage and a security standpoint.

Uptime Guarantees

Companies need to make sure that they data center they choose provides them with a substantial uptime guarantee. Reliable data centers will always have multiple redundant Internet connections and backup power generators in case anything goes wrong on their end. Any data center that offers less than a 99.99% uptime guarantee should be avoided, as this demonstrates a lack of confidence in their equipment and abilities.

Location

There are several things that people should take into consideration when choosing the location where they would like their servers to be located. Businesses that run things like ERP systems that need to be accessed from the office should choose a data center near them in order to reduce latency and allow everything to function more quickly. However, companies that have customers all over a certain country or region who use applications hosted on their servers may want to pick somewhere more central to boost access times for clients.

Standards and Compliance

While many data centers invest a significant amount of time, money and effort into making sure their systems are up-to-date and meet (if not beat) all industry standards, there will always be those who fail to make an effort in this regard. A business owner should educate themselves on what to expect a standards-compliant center to provide and be sure they’re measuring each potential colocation partner against these expectations.

Staff and Security


In many instances, data centers do not allow people who do not work there onto the premises, and this includes IT staff from companies that collocate their servers there. A data center technician with a bachelor’s in computer science says this looks good from a security perspective, as businesses know that no one will be able to physically access their servers. However, the downside to this is they need to rely on data center staff to supply hands-on support when issues arise. Companies should make sure that they data center they choose has staff members who are well-versed with the type of technology that they use so that any problems can be resolved quickly.

Stability

Like any other outsourcing service, a colocation provider should demonstrate financial stability before meriting a business’ consideration. Business owners and their IT department should examine a provider’s press releases and other records of financial history to determine the lasting potential of their service. If a provider appears unable to provide the support a business requires for at least five years, it would be wise to look elsewhere.

Customization

If a business has decided that colocation is the right move for their enterprise, they should look for a provider willing to customize their service to best suit the former’s unique needs. A good general rule of thumb is to focus on providers with floor build strength and cabinet power exceeding the average center’s. Businesses and their IT departments should weigh providers’ customization offerings and managed services against each other to determine which offers the best service for their operation.

Although choosing a data center may seem to be a relatively trivial matter, there are serious variations in quality amongst them. With this, businesses should know exactly what they need and what they will be getting when choosing a colocation partner.

For more information, please contact Emma Sturgis

The post What Businesses Need to Consider When Selecting a Colocation Partner appeared first on Colocation America.

It is important to know that most solutions can publish or access the web. However, not all are web-based or even real-time online; most of the times desktop solutions are a reserve for small businesses. In situations where few people need access to data, then the desktop solution is the best. This solution is also perfect in situations where data needs to be securely reserved and away from public networks. Simply put, desktop solution is effective where remote access is hardly required.

Web-Enabled Databases vs. Server Databases

Of great importance to note is that web-enabled databases are almost constantly server based, but the server databases are not normally always web-enabled. This is the main reason why server databases are kept separate from web-enabled databases.

The server-based solutions can be exclusively in-house on the closed intranets that are inaccessible from the outside world. Alternatively, they can be limited in terms of their accessibility through the web. This allows users to salvage some data or obtain a synopsis – like published infographic. However, users are not actually able to have full access to manipulate or view data itself unless they are somewhat connected through a secured in-house network.

The web-enabled databases are generally fully accessible through the World Wide Web.

Cloud DBaas

This is a server-based or web-enabled solution, but it is normally sold as a service. The service is a DataBase service which is neither owned nor controlled by a company that uses the database. This form of database is one of the most popular, new outsourcing options that allow businesses or enterprises to minimize their expenditures on the database administration requirements, while still gaining access to high-end technology for the company’s data needs.

With the four database types, there is an array of storage options, data integrity solutions, DB languages, as well as open or commercial source delivery. Some of the DB languages include SQL. In addition to all these, there are server options too. However, they are nearly always based on other options instead of being stand-alone options.

How to Avoid Database Confusion

While looking for the best remote DBA support provider, the numerous options available can be quite confusing. The same is also true for those looking for database management solutions. Fortunately, the type of data a company has greatly narrows the field of prospective candidates. Unfortunately, this does not mean that the decision you make will be the best based on the said facts.

Having many options means that you need to take your time to carefully pass through all the options. This will not only help you settle for the best, but the most cost effective as well. There is no doubt about that.

Other types of databases

Operational databases

On a daily basis, every organization usually generates vast amounts of data. Things such as financials, transactions, and inventory managements are in constant production day by day. All these data is usually collected in a particular database that goes by names such as transaction databases, subject-area database or production/operational database.

An operational database is extremely important to any organization. This is because the database includes important information about a certain product such as inventory database, personal database and customer database. The database also has information on the exact number of customers that purchase that particular product. Organizations can always manipulate or change the data stored in operational databases every time the firm needs the data.

Relational databases

Relational databases are very common among the different types of databases. All the data stored in this type of database is kept in a variety of data tables. Every table has a main field that is used to connect or link to other tables. Therefore, all the tables are linked to each other through various key fields. Various industries extensively use these kinds of databases. When working in the IT field, this is the most common type of database you will experience.

Some perfect examples of relational databases include Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase, and Oracle. They are regularly part and parcel of the software development process. You should make sure that you include all works that are required on a database as part of your project anytime you create a project plan and/or estimate project costs.

Database warehouses

Organizations are normally required to keep and maintain all-important data for a number of years. In some countries, for example, it can be for six years. This data is a great source of information for not only analyzing, but also comparing the existing year data with that of the previous year. This makes it quite easy to determine the key trends that are taking place.

Data from previous years is normally maintained in a database warehouse. Because this data has already undergone screening, editing as well as integration, it doesn’t need any more alteration or editing.

With this type of database, it is prudent to ensure that the SRS (software requirements specification) is formally approved as a potion of a project quality plan.

End-user databases

At every workstation, a variety of data is normally available. In itself, every workstation resembles a small database. It includes downloaded files, note pads, word files, presentations, and spreadsheets. Every small database forms a totally different database by the name ‘end-user database.’

Distributed databases

Most organizations have a number of branch offices, regional offices, manufacturing plants and office locations. Together with the head office, all the mentioned can be located at different geographic locations. Each work group might have its own database. Together, they form the company’s main database. This is what is referred to as a ‘distributed database.’

Jenny Richards is a freelance content writer. She has written many articles on technology, internet, software, database, hosting etc. Through this article she has given some information on different types of databases. To know more visit her blog http://remotedba.com/

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Increased Challenges to Health Care IT

At the same time, the health care industry is dealing with increased pressure to reduce costs, improve security and reliability of patient information and create systems that deliver better efficiency. Hospital IT departments are putting their budgets into enterprise systems, innovative software architectures, new infrastructures at the network level and increased data security. There are, however, several common challenges facing hospitals trying to improve their IT systems.

• The cost of developing these systems on-site is prohibitive for many health care organizations with tight budgets.
• Despite the lack of available funds to finance these improved technological changes, health care organizations and service providers must stay compliant with HIPAA and other regulations.
• Patient records demand a high degree of security and protection. This is especially important in light of significant data breaches that appear in the news seemingly every week.
• An IT specialist with a Bachelor’s in health information management says many health care providers are not necessarily focused on information technology. They often lack the infrastructure or personnel to effectively administer and manage their IT services.

Hospitals and Clinics Turn To Colocation

Colocation provides a cost-effective solution to these challenges, employing third-party data center providers in a separate physical space, which ensures the extra security a hospital needs for its data. The colocation provider offers a physical IT plant complete with server cabinets, power systems with UPS backup, extensive cooling operations and access to different types of bandwidth. They provide both virtual and physical security which is especially important in a health care environment.

Expand Infrastructure

While most health care organizations currently have the majority of their IT operations on-site, colocation is an increasingly popular option. It allows IT managers to expand their infrastructure without the burden of significant capital expenditures. At the same time, they gain the benefit of increased security, improved power redundancy and flexibility for future growth.

Overcome IT Staffing Issues

Colocation also solves many personnel challenges. Managed services from colocation providers range from basic server maintenance all the way up to physical assistance with receiving shipments. This frees hospitals and clinics from the challenge of hiring and training IT support staff.

Other Industries Rely on Colocation – Hospitals Can Too

A recent TechNavio study reported data center construction is expected to grow by more than ten percent over the five-year period from 2015 to 2018. This growth is partially due to the rapid rise in demand for colocation services which offer health care organizations cost effectiveness, managed services, convenience, security, flexibility and advanced technology.

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